Gimme A Dream Vacation

Posted By admin on December 25, 2011

I love Magdalen Islands music! Any of the multiple bars, pubs, and halls have Magdalen Islands music playing all evening long, most days during the visitors seasons.

The English are distinctly country and western in their musical dialect. The French on the other hand have a strong Acadian presence in their music, from their heritage.

The music is lively with a strong ‘beat’, rarely melancholy. Even when they sing about the hardships of the sea, it becomes fun music.

House parties have changed over the years on the islands. People would gather at the home of someone with a large kitchen. A guitar, a fiddle, a mandolin, an accordion, even a set of spoons would be brought and the music would begin. Homemade beer or wild berry wine would be passed around and a lot of cigarettes would be smoked. No one worried about health problems back then, they simply opened up a few windows and doors when the smoke got to thick to see through. The party would go on until the wee hours.

Often the lyrics and music are written to dance beats. The dances had names back then; the two-step, the ‘jive’, the polka, the waltz…, even a version of the square dance which was a house party favorite.

Now-a-days, the homes are different and not suitable for house parties. Money is put into the luxuries that our parents and grandparents couldn’t afford.

 Expensive oak dining room furniture has taken the place of spruce benches behind a hardwood table that had seen better days. Hardwood floors have replaced the cheap linoleum or the rough board floor that had to be bleached every week one knees with a scrub brush. Swanky leather couches have replaced the straw filled wooden divans and kitchen chairs that had lost their backs.

Now when a party is held, the great hall is rented and a band is hired. Food is prepared on site and set up as a buffet, in the corner. The music has an open air. It becomes cold in the vastness of space.

I loved the parties of old! I loved everything about them. I loved the way people interacted. I loved the pot-luck that found a place on the kitchen table. I loved the warmth of the atmosphere. I loved sitting or standing in the corner and watching the people.

In this modern day of computers and high tech…, luxurious homes and yet disposal living, the music, although still vibrant, more varied and attainable to more people is…, different.

I love Magdalen Islands music! The music of the 60’, 70’s, 80’s and now the millennium music too!

Categories: Islands Activities
Tags: ivan quinn